However, finding one that has a proven record of putting their money where their mouth is – and getting it right – is a different story altogether.
Given the pressures fund managers are under to outperform over relatively short time periods, picking and sticking with stocks or sectors that are out of favour or that have been completely written off by the market is an unenviable job.
With this in mind and with the help of industry experts, FE Trustnet highlights leading contrarian managers who have a knack of finding value in the most unlikely of places.
Neil Woodford
Ben Willis, head of research at Whitechurch, says that FE Alpha Manager Neil Woodford (pictured) is the best example of a successful contrarian investor.
"I would say Neil Woodford is a contrarian investor, despite the amount of money he now runs," Willis said. "It was certainly the case during the tech boom, which is really where he made his name. He stayed well away from the sector and instead decided to stick with tobacco while others were filling their boots with technology stocks."
"Everyone thought he was mad and he got a lot of grief about his decision, but inevitably the proof is in his long-term numbers."
"The dotcom crash is still fresh in the memory of investors as it was one of largest herd trades and a lot of people lost a lot of money."
"He still holds no utilities or banks, which still divides opinion. He likes pharmas and tobacco, which have become traditional income stocks," Willis added.
Woodford runs seven open- and closed-ended portfolios, including Invesco Perpetual Income, Invesco Perpetual Distribution and the Edinburgh Investment Trust.
However, he is best known for managing the five crown-rated £13.4bn Invesco Perpetual High Income fund.
He has run the fund since its launch in 1988, making him one of the longest-serving managers in the IMA universe.
According to FE Analytics, over that time the fund has returned 2,137.38 per cent while the FTSE All Share has made 903.35 per cent.
Performance of fund vs index since Feb 1988
Source: FE Analytics
Invesco Perpetual High Income is the best-performing fund in the IMA UK Equity Income sector over 10 years and is a top-quartile performer over three and five years as well.
The fund has also been considerably less volatile over the short, medium and long term.
Invesco Perpetual High Income has an ongoing charges figure (OCF) of 1.69 per cent and requires a minimum investment of £500.
Alastair Mundy
Richard Troue, investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says that the majority of managers claim not to follow the crowd but that Alastair Mundy (pictured) is one of the few genuine examples of a contrarian investor.
"It is sometimes difficult to identify a contrarian investor, as every manager seemingly claims to be one," he said. "However, I would say Alastair Mundy can be called one." "He is a genuine contrarian manager as he looks for companies that have heavily fallen out of favour and have been written off by investors, perhaps even written off by other 'contrarian' investors," he said.
"He doesn’t do anything too complicated either, he even says that he is more of a historian rather than a fund manager."
"He looks through a company’s previous balance sheets and reports to see where and why they have fallen out of favour and then will ultimately try and locate how he feels that company will turn around in the future."
"He tends to buy companies before they begin their turnaround and will sell earlier than most, before other investors begin to get interested. Once he has sold out, he then looks for the next turnaround story," Troue added.
Mundy currently runs eight portfolios. These include the Investec UK and Global Special Situations funds, Investec Cautious Managed, Investec American and the closed-ended Temple Bar Investment Trust.
His career running funds in the IMA universe spans back to August 2000. Since then he has returned 56.9 per cent while his peers have returned 51.42 per cent.
Performance of manager vs peers since Aug 2000
Source: FE Analytics
He has run the £776.2m Investec UK Special Situations fund since summer 2002 and with Mundy at the helm it has been a top-quartile performer in the IMA UK All Companies sector over five and 10 years.
It has dropped into the second quartile over the short and medium term, however.
In the fund’s factsheet, Mundy highlights his contrarian approach to investing.
"We assess whether or not the company and its stock appears to be out of favour with the market and therefore appears to be undervalued," Mundy said.
He says the first step is to look only at the worst-performing stocks that have a market cap of more than £100m
He continued: "This isolates opportunities with attractive characteristics which are then, in turn, scrutinised in greater detail to identify investment opportunities."
"We aim to disprove the conventional wisdom surrounding an out-of-favour stock and look for good underlying fundamental values such as the company’s assets, current cash-flows or profits," Mundy added.
Investec UK Special Situations has an OCF of 1.6 per cent and requires a minimum investment of £1,000.
Sanjeev Shah
Troue says Sanjeev Shah (pictured) is one of the best instances of a contrarian investor in more recent times, given his determination to hold financial stocks despite the fact they are so unloved by other managers.
"Shah is still a genuine contrarian investor," he continued. "It was a bit of a baptism of fire taking over the Fidelity Special Situations fund from Anthony Bolton, as they were some very big shoes to fill."
"However, he continued a similar contrarian approach that the fund’s investors were used to."
"This led him to banks – plus other stocks in the media and information technology sectors – which meant he had a very painful time when he began running the fund."
"However, he stuck with the likes of financials despite their unpopularity and that is the mark of a contrarian investor."
"He had the patience to wait until they eventually came to fruition, which of course they eventually did to a certain extent and he feels they can go further."
Shah currently runs the £2.6bn Fidelity Special Situations fund, having previously managed Fidelity UK Select, Fidelity Growth & Income and the closed-ended Fidelity Special Values Investment Trust.
He has managed funds since August 2002 and over that time he has returned 215.5 per cent while his peer group composite has made 149.73 per cent.
He has managed Fidelity Special Situations since January 2008. It has been a top quartile performer in the IMA UK All Companies sector over this time, with returns of 40.44 per cent, beating its FTSE All Share benchmark in the process.
Performance of fund vs sector and index since Jan 2008
Source: FE Analytics
Fidelity Special Situations has underperformed against the sector over three years.
One of the major contributory factors to the fund’s underperformance has been Shah’s high exposure to financials.
The fund was third quartile in 2009 and 2010 and lost 13.97 per cent in 2011, placing it in the bottom quartile and falling short of the FTSE All Share by 10 percentage points.
Nevertheless, it is also a top-quartile performer over one year as banks and other financial stocks have rallied.
It is still his largest sector weighting – making up 31.8 per cent of the portfolio – with the likes of HSBC, Lloyds and the London Stock Exchange all featuring in his top-10 holdings.
Shah’s fund requires a minimum investment of £1,000 and has an OCF of 1.7 per cent.